China ‘may exempt some US goods’ from tariffs; British retail sales beat forecasts – business live

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City economists are encouraged that UK retail sales rose last month.

Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, credits the warmer weather, which boosted demand for clothing and DIY equipment:

“Sales continued to grow in March as the sunshine and warm weather encouraged people to spend more. Clothing and footwear performed well as consumers sought to take advantage of the good weather and prepare for summer.

The sunny weather also gave a boost to garden supplies and DIY, as people spent more time outside.

“Mother’s Day and the spring sunshine saw retail sales rise by 0.4% in March. A positive surprise given that Easter hopped over into April this year – meaning March didn’t benefit from the holiday lift. It also marks the largest three-month rise in sales volumes since July 2021 – a sign there is some underlying resilience in shopper behaviour and the big discounts in the early part of the quarter brought back consumers.

Food sales saw a decline of 1.3%, likely due to people eating out and Easter not falling in March. But, we’d expect this to bounce back in April. Conversely, sales volumes in textiles, clothing, and shoes jumped by 3.7%, as people started getting ready for the spring.”

“March’s retail sales should be read with care as the ONS adjusts for the impact of Easter and school holidays falling in April this year. Continuing February’s improving trend, seasonally-adjusted retail sales rose again month-on-month, for the third consecutive month in volume terms.

Excluding petrol, retail sales volumes rose by a respectable 3.3%, which translated into 3.8% more pounds in the till compared with this time last year.